


The pilgrims were murderers and turkey tastes like napkins

by theglitterati



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Enemies to Friends, Grandparents & Grandchildren, M/M, Thanksgiving, retirement homes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2016-10-08
Packaged: 2018-08-20 03:49:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8235067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theglitterati/pseuds/theglitterati
Summary: On Thanksgiving in their freshman year, Dex and Nursey discover that their grandparents are in the same retirement home.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all! This is my very first fic in this fandom, and, despite the fact that I used to be VERY prolific over in the Les Mis fandom, it's the first fic I've posted in about eight months! So I really hope you all enjoy. Generally G-rated but there's some swearing in this.
> 
> Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

The retirement home is always sadder than Dex remembers. Normally, at least, his family is there, chattering happily about presents or turkey or some combination thereof. Alone in the bitter November air, the austere brick building looks even less promising than usual.

He passes through the automatic doors, signs in beside his name on the guest list, and pumps medical grade sanitizer into his palm, which leaves his hands sticky. Walks into what’s called the Living Room, a large, round area filled with armchairs and couches and one sooty fireplace, which hasn’t been lit today despite the chill. Scanning faces, he spots the back of his grandfather’s head in a chair near the window – which offers a beautiful view of the apartment complex next door – and makes his way over, smiling at anyone he passes who is alone, then avoiding eye contact when that becomes too depressing.

He comes to stand in front of his grandfather and his newspaper, knowing his grandfather would somehow find it rude if he sat down right away. He clears his throat with a cough.

“Happy thanksgiving, Poppy,” Dex says, holding out his hand.

His grandfather drags his eyes up slowly, clearly trying to finish the sentence he was reading before setting his paper aside. He offers Dex a curt handshake. “Hello, William.” No holiday wishes in return.

Dex, long used to his grandfather’s severity, the cause of which is a mishmash of the changing times, the manners on kids these days, and whatever war he fought in, takes the next seat. “How are you feeling today?” Dex asks. The old man has a variety of mild, age-related maladies, the long list of which Dex can never remember.

“Sciatica’s acting up again,” he grumbles. “The cold doesn’t help my joints. I wish they’d turn the damn heat up.” Dex nods in agreement as his grandfather shifts in his chair. “Remind me again why you’re here?”

“Mom and Dad and Kelley went to Aunt Paula’s in Plattsburgh,” Dex explains. “That was a bit far for me to travel – I’ve got a hockey game this weekend – and since you’re so close by I thought it would be nice to come visit. I usually only get to see you at Christmas.”

Dex receives just a grunt of assent, which he thinks is all he’s going to get until his grandfather adds, “Is Paula the horse-faced one, or the one with the giant ass?”

“The horse-faced one,” Dex sighs quietly. “The – other – one is Aunt Louise.”

This time the grunt really is all he gets.

Dex looks around the room. Other families are starting to arrive, which is bringing the mood up, but there are still many people sitting alone, hopeful eyes on the door.

“You’re still playing hockey, then?” Dex’s grandfather finally asks after five minutes of pure silence between them.

“Yes, sir. We’re on a three-game winning streak at the moment. Actually, last game I—”

“And your classes?”

Dex takes a breath. “My classes are going well.”

“What is it you’re studying?”

“I’m in engineer—” There’s a crash from the entranceway. Dex stops speaking abruptly and looks up to see a cracked umbrella stand rolling around in a pile of black umbrellas and a few canes, and none other than Derek Nurse standing in the middle of the mess, wearing a black overcoat and that stupid, sheepish look he always gets when he breaks something.

 _You’ve got to be fucking kidding,_ Dex thinks. He just barely stops himself from saying it out loud, remembering his company.

“You’re in what?” his grandfather snaps, clearly not having heard the crash.

“Engineering,” Dex finishes, his eyes still on Nursey, who is now making apologies to the receptionist and trying to pick up the umbrellas.

His grandfather snorts. “I’m surprised they actually teach engineering at that beatnik university you go to.”

“Yeah,” Dex mumbles. Nursey’s signing the clipboard at the desk. _What the hell is he doing here?_ Dex wonders. Of all the places he’d expect to run into Nursey, even off-campus, a government-regulated, low-income retirement home in Springfield is not one of them.

“Poppy, would you excuse me for a moment?” Dex asks, interrupting the rant his grandfather was going on about Samwell. “I’ve got to use the restroom.” His grandfather waves him off, retrieving his paper.

Dex weaves back through the room, intercepting Nursey before he can look for whoever it is he’s here to see.

“Why are you here?”

Nursey looks as startled as Dex has ever seen him. “Whoa,” he says, accurately summing up the weirdness of the situation. Then he frowns. “Do you always have to be so rude?”

Dex rolls his eyes. “Hello, Nurse, Happy Thanksgiving or whatever. Now why are you here?”

“Happy Thanksgiving to you, too, Poindexter.”

Nursey waits for a moment before answering Dex’s question, something he does often because he knows it drives Dex insane – Dex suspects that’s why, anyway. “I’m visiting my relatives. Why are you here?”

“Same thing, obviously,” Dex says, suddenly annoyed with himself. Despite the ridiculousness of the idea, Dex’s brain had jumped right past the thought that Nursey had a legitimate reason to be here and straight to being convinced that he was somehow here just to irritate Dex more than he already did on campus.

Nursey’s trying to get around him. “Well, goodbye, then,” Dex says, unnecessarily bitter. He expects Nursey to snap back at him, chirp him, but instead, he just grimaces.

“Sorry, dude, I’ll see you around later, maybe,” Nursey says, evading him and hurrying away down a hallway.

Dex stares after his retreating form, confused. That’s the first time he’s heard an apology come out of Derek Nurse’s mouth.

***

Dex doesn’t see Nursey again until lunch, after two painful hours of conversation about Hillary Clinton and hip replacements with his grandfather’s poker buddies. Dex is dying to eat so that a mouthful of tuna salad can function as an excuse for him not to have to talk anymore.

Lunch is a sad affair that leaves Dex pessimistic about dinner. The dining hall has clearly not been renovated since at least the mid-90s, because the walls are covered in cheap wood paneling. The place is a taxidermied buck’s head and a few neon signs away from being a truck stop diner.

The food is served in tin pans over candles. Scrambled eggs and potatoes, soggy eggplant, and Caesar salad on ice are the stars of the show.

Nursey’s filling up a plate when Dex enters the room. Dex’s grandfather, happily distracted from entertaining his grandson by the presence of his friends, doesn’t notice when Dex abandons them for the buffet.

“Hi,” Dex says, aiming for a nicer greeting than earlier. Nursey glances up at him from where he’s leaned over the coleslaw, then goes back to scooping.

Dex huffs. “Do _you_ always have to be so rude?”

Nursey shakes his head, leaving the bait hanging.

Dex tries a different tack, attempting friendly conversation. “So who are you here visiting?” He grabs a plate and slops some creamed corn onto it.

“My grandparents.” Nursey moves further down the table, and Dex follows.

“I would never have guessed that your grandparents would live here. Shouldn’t they have, like, a penthouse in New York somewhere? Or at least a condo in Florida?”

“They’re my dad’s parents,” Nursey says, not looking at Dex. “It’s my mom’s family that’s rich.”

Dex doesn’t have the heart to chirp Nursey about his money right now. Instead, he feigns interest in the sandwich selection until Nursey speaks again.

“Who are you here to see?”

“My Poppy.”

That gets a rise out of Nursey, finally. “You call your grandpa Poppy?” he asks with a small smile.

“Yes,” Dex says, defensive. “And what do you call yours, Grandfather Dearest?”

Nursey’s smile disappears. “I don’t call him or my grandmother anything yet. I had never met them before today.”

Dex sputters, trying to think of an appropriate response to that. Nursey, meanwhile, has finished filling his plate and is walking away.

“Nurse, wait—” Dex starts, but it’s too late.

“See you after lunch, man,” Nursey calls over his shoulder as he walks away.

***

Dex catches himself glancing over at Nursey all through lunch. He wonders how he’s getting on with his new family members. They appear to be doing fine – he watches as a small elderly woman with Nursey’s nose laughs at something he said, her husband quieter but still attentive beside her. But Dex spends a lot of time around Nursey, and he can tell from the tight line of his shoulders that he’s not his usual Zen self. Dex passes the rest of the meal mentally berating himself for being awful to Nursey on what is clearly not his best day.

Nursey disappears from sight as the crowd clears out of the dining room. Dex trails after his grandfather, who Dex is not sure remembers that he’s there. He’s still deep in conversation with his friends, and Dex has given up on listening, focused on other things.

“William!” his grandfather barks, dragging him from his reverie. “I’m going upstairs.” Dex notices that his cronies have gone, as has most of the crowd.

“Great.” Dex starts off towards the elevator before his grandfather catches his arm.

“No, you stay here. I’m going to get a few hours of peace and quiet. I’ll meet you here at dinnertime.”

“Oh.” Dex blinks, taken back. “Sure, Poppy. You get some rest.”

His grandfather mutters something unintelligible as he makes his way towards the elevator, and then Dex is alone.

He’s wondering what to do for the next four hours when a voice near his ear whispers, “Hey.”

How Nursey sidled up to him so quietly is beyond Dex, who jumps at the sound of his voice. Nursey chuckles, and Dex can see that some of the day’s previous tension has gone out of him. He looks more normal – which is to say, annoying.

“Hey to you too.” Dex glances around. “Where are your grandparents?”

“Bridge game,” Nursey shrugs. “I was invited along, but I don’t know how to play.”

“I guess we both have the afternoon off then.” Dex isn’t sure how much of his conversation with his grandfather Nursey heard, but knowing his luck, it was all of it.

“Guess so. Want to go sightsee?”

Dex rolls his eyes. He’s been here before; there’s nothing within walking distance but crappy apartments and a bowling alley, which, given it’s a holiday, will be closed. But despite his longstanding differences of opinion with Nursey, Dex knows he owes him an apology, so he says, “sure,” and follows him out into the cold.

They end up leaning against the bike rack of the building across the street, watching some kids play soccer in a field of dead grass. Dex tucks his hands into his coat pockets and turns his collar up against the wind.

They make small talk, unusually polite with each other. When Nursey asks how Dex got to Springfield – the bus – and then offers to drive him home, Dex finally blurts out his apology.

“Sorry for being a dick earlier.” It comes out curter than Dex means it. “I didn’t know you were only meeting your family today.”

Nursey doesn’t reply. Instead, he pull his phone from his pocket, and aims the camera at Dex.

“What are you doing?” Dex shields his face.

“Taking a picture to commemorate this momentous occasion,” Nursey says, smug. “Thursday, November 27 th , 2014. 1:41 p.m. William Poindexter has graced me, Derek Malik Nurse—”

Dex smacks Nursey’s hand down. “Alright, alright, I get it.”

Nursey’s still grinning, but he puts the phone away.

“How’s it going, then? With your grandparents?”

“Alright, I guess,” Nursey says evenly. “They didn’t exactly invite me here, but they don’t seem annoyed to see me.”

“What?”

“Yeah,” Nursey says. “So, my dad doesn’t talk to them anymore? Same as he doesn’t talk to me or my mom, and hasn’t since I was, like, a toddler. It’s for the best, really, he’s kind of an asshole, but it also means that I never really met any of his family.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah. So, the receptionist here, like, keeps tabs on people that never get visitors, and tries to contact their family around the holidays. Which is all kinds of fucked up, but beside the point. So she called my mom a month ago and asked if we wanted to come visit. My mom has met them before, obviously, and didn’t really want to spend thanksgiving with her ex-husband’s parents. But I said I’d come. Figure I should meet them, at least.”

“Yeah.” Dex knows he should say more, but the situation is a lot to take in. Not to mention that this is the most information Nursey has ever told him about himself, and the longest conversation they’ve had without arguing.

“But they seem nice, though?” Dex finally says.

“Yeah, they do. It’s just, like, uncomfortable. Because we’re basically strangers. Grandparents are supposed to be people who babysit you when you’re little, not people you meet when you’ve already moved out of your house and are a foot taller than them.”

Dex just nods.

“What about your grandfather?” Nursey asks. “Are you close?” His tone is guarded; he’s expecting Dex to tell him it’s too personal of a question, to tell him to screw off like he normally would. But Dex doesn’t mind right now.

“We used to go to this house every day after school until I was, like, twelve, when I was old enough to go home and watch my sister there until my parents got home. He practically raised me,” Dex says. Nursey’s eyebrows jump up. “Yeah, I know,” Dex continues. “You wouldn’t know it from what you saw of him today.”

“Did he used to be more, uh—” Nursey stops, searching for the right word.

“No, he was always like that,” Dex says with a tone of finality. He looks away from Nursey and lets his gaze drift to the kids in the grass instead. He doesn’t think he could bear the sympathy that he knows is on Nursey’s face right now. It’s the same look he wore just moments before.

“Let’s go in and play shuffleboard or something,” Nursey suggests. “My ass is going to freeze to this bike rack.” He hops up and walks back in the direction they came, Dex trailing behind him.

Nursey nudges him when they’re ten feet from the front door. “So are we gonna be BFFs now that we’ve unlocked each other’s tragic backstories or whatever?”

Dex can’t stop himself from laughing. “Shut up, man,” he says, barging ahead of Nursey to beat him to the door.

***

They should have known that this home was too basic to have a shuffleboard court. Instead, they pass the afternoon watching soap operas on the tiny television in the living room with an old woman named Gladys, who tells them that they’re charming young men for watching her stories with her. Dex, Nursey, and Gladys all share hot chocolate that was definitely made with hot water instead of milk – Bitty would have a heart attack if he knew his boys were drinking that crap – but still melts the frost from their bones.

Dex feels… at ease. Despite Gladys’s strange company and the frankly depressing setting, he’s happy. He and Nursey are getting along for once, chirping each other occasionally, but doing so like the other players on their team would. Like friends would.

Dex is sad to see their bubble burst when his grandfather approaches.

“It’s dinnertime, William,” he says simply, then starts off for the dining room.

“Poppy, wait,” Dex says quickly, jumping up. His grandfather turns back around. “This is Derek Nurse.” Nursey springs from his chair to offer his hand. “He’s on the hockey team with me at Samwell.”

Dex’s grandfather appraises Nursey before shakes his hand brusquely. “Hello.” He turns back to Dex. “The food’s not going to stay hot all night, not with those bloody candles heating it.”

“Right, of course,” Dex says. He grabs his jacket from the back of the armchair. “Guess I’ll see you after,” he adds to Nursey. Nursey sits back down to wait with Gladys for his own family.

Dinner is nearly as hopeless as lunch, though there are real turkeys carved and waiting at the buffet, which is a small step up. Dex can’t see Nursey and his family there – it’s more crowded in the room now, with new families having arrived just for dinner – but he hopes that they’re having a good time.

There’s live music (read: a middle-aged guy with a keyboard and a scratchy microphone) in the living room after dinner. By luck or coincidence, Dex and his grandfather end up near Nursey’s family in the seating area. Dex meets Nursey’s eye as his sits down, and Nursey gives him a small smile.

Making conversation with his grandfather is again difficult for Dex, as the old man seems more content to sit in silence and work on a crossword puzzle. Dex lets his attention drift to the middle of the room, where mismatched couples of mothers and sons, grandfathers and granddaughters have gotten up to sway to the music. Nursey and his grandmother join them a couple songs in, and then Dex loses his entertainment when Nursey catches him watching them and he has to look away.

“Is that boy a friend of yours?” his grandfather asks suddenly.

“What?”

“That boy from your hockey team. Are you friends with him?”

Dex hesitates before answering. “Yeah,” he says finally. “I am.”

He doesn’t think his grandfather notices the shift that accompanied his words – that’s just in Dex’s mind.

His grandfather scoffs. “He looks like a goddamn hippie with that tattoo. And that one he’s dancing with stole the last of the cherry pie out from under me last week.”

Dex doesn’t know how to address either of those things, so he says nothing. He does, however, glance over at Nursey’s grandfather, hoping very much that his hearing has deteriorated enough with age that he didn’t hear those comments.

The keyboardist takes a break and joins an elderly couple in the corner of the room – it seems he has family here, too. Dex sees Nursey and his grandmother return to their table out of the corner of his eye.

Dex’s grandfather is still silent and focused, and try as he might not to eavesdrop, Dex can hear everything Nursey’s family is saying. They’re talking about holidays past when suddenly the conversation takes a turn.

“So how is that mother of yours?” Nursey’s grandfather asks, out of the blue.

“Um,” says Nursey. “She’s good.  She actually just got promoted at work a few months ago.”

“Hm!” his grandmother exhales. “Like she needs it.”

“Um,” Nursey says again.

“She’s always done very well for herself,” his grandmother adds, though it doesn’t sound like a compliment.

“You’re very lucky,” his grandfather says.

“Right.”

They fall quiet after that ( _thank god_ , thinks Dex) and Dex makes a point to busy himself on his phone. He can feel Nursey’s eyes on him, but this time, he won’t be caught looking.

***

The night winds down quickly after that, families wanting to get back on the road. A chorus of Drive Safe’s and See You In December’s surround Dex as he walks his grandfather over to the elevator.

“Well,” his grandfather says. “Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Happy thanksgiving, Poppy,” Dex says. “It was nice to come and see you.”

His grandfather just nods; he looks tired, not a symptom of a long day but of a long life.

Dex thinks he should turn and go when his grandfather abruptly adds, “You seem to be doing well for yourself, William.”

Dex is shocked – coming from him, that’s practically an “I’m proud of you” and an “I love you” rolled into one. “Thank you, Poppy,” he says.

“Uh huh. Goodnight.” The elevator dings, the door squeaking open, and then his grandfather is gone.

Dex lurks in the foyer until he sees Nursey and his family approaching. He tries to hang back while they’re saying their goodbyes, but Nursey comes right up to him and drags him over to meet them.

“Grandma, Grandpa, this is my friend De—William Poindexter, from school.” Dex shakes both of their hands gently.

“Nice to meet you, William,” Nursey’s grandmother says. Her smile is warm, and familiar.

“Nice to meet both of you, as well,” Dex replies.

There’s a slightly awkward pause before Nursey says, “We should probably get going.”

“Yes, you don’t want to be out driving too late,” his grandfather says. “Derek, it was wonderful to finally meet you.”

“It was good to see you, too,” Nursey says. Dex doesn’t miss the way his voice catches. He attempts to shrink back into the wall so as not to intrude on their moment. It’s hard, though, when you’re 6’2”.

“You’ll come back and visit us again, won’t you?” his grandmother asks.

Nursey nods vehemently, lips pursed. “Of course so.” He surges forward to hug them both. His grandmother leans up to kiss him on the cheek, and then they’re gone, heading off down the hall.

There’s other families trying to say their farewells around them now, but Nursey still looks shell-shocked. Dex tugs lightly on the sleeve of Nursey’s coat.

“Hey,” he says. “You ready to go home?”

Nursey nods, and they head for the door together.

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, episode 2.07.


End file.
